


Encountering Ichiji

by Zairafuana



Series: Once Upon A Midnight Dream Verse [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: AU - Once Upon A Midnight Dream verse, Anxiety, Canon Sanji in an alternate reality, Gen, Ichiji is nice, Past Abuse, family interactions Sanji deserves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22119379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zairafuana/pseuds/Zairafuana
Summary: Sanji finds himself in a world so much like his own. He would say that it's even a carbon copy of his life on the Baratie. Or he would if not for the fact that his siblings are all there and acting very much not like themselves.He feels lost and confused as if reality around him is distorted.Sanji's anxiety and confusion only increase when Ichiji notices Sanji's unease and begins to speak with him to work out the situation.
Series: Once Upon A Midnight Dream Verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592125
Comments: 1
Kudos: 63





	Encountering Ichiji

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I only own the verse, not the characters

~ _I feel like I’m in some distorted fever dream._

_It’s like I’m home but not. Everything is familiar but so much has changed._

_And then there’s him._

_His voice sends an icy chill down my spine with each seemingly innocent word that he speaks. But there’s something wrong. The tone is wrong, the inflection is too soft. There’s a tenderness to the sound of it and it frightens me more than I could ever express. It’s a lie, I know it is. It has to be._

_Except…_

_There’s no reason to lie. He gains nothing. He doesn’t toy with his prey._

_Only Niji does that._ ~

Sanji swallowed tightly as his pen stilled. His fingers shook and ached from gripping the writing instrument too tightly. His breath shuddered in his lungs as he sat there staring down wide-eyed at the journal he had gotten from Reiju.

He dropped the pen into the journal’s crease, unable to write another word. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He pressed his hands to his face and struggled to draw air into his resistant lungs. Moisture started to cling to his lashes as the world becomes too much too quickly.

Suddenly, there was a soft knock on his door.

“Sanji? Are you alright?” The sound of his big brother’s voice jolted Sanji into high alert as he heard the door open. Hands still to his face, he spread trembling fingers and looked up. His throat tightened and his heart slammed so hard in his chest that he felt like he was going to have a heart attack.

He took in that tall figure; a symbol of dread standing before him. Clad in plain clothes of crimson and white. Sunglasses settled perfectly into place on a stern and cruel face.

Except…

The face is neither stern nor cruel. Bangs of blond obscure one side of his older sibling’s face. The man’s eyebrows are pinched in concern and a tiny frown pulls at his lips. The figure is tall but not stiff and menacing like the image burned into Sanji’s memory. No, this one stood tall but with hips cocked to the side, giving off a more relaxed feel.

“Is something bothering you, Sanji?” There was that frightening softness again! What was that awful tone!? Kindness? Concern? It couldn’t be. Ichiji didn’t know how to fake those.

“We’re all really worried about you.” Ichiji tried again, walking to the bed. He took a seat beside Sanji and warning bells were going off in the younger blond’s head. Muscles in Sanji’s shoulders and back stiffened, leaving him ready to spring from the bed were his brother to attack him.

“You’ve been acting really weird all day.” Ichiji gently placed his hand on Sanji’s shoulder and the cook instantly jerked away. The elder sibling’s answer to the reaction was an expression of a surprise but he did remove his hand from Sanji.

What happened next left Sanji feeling disorientated and yet clearer at the same time as well.

“You know you can talk to me, right?” Ichiji urged gently. He reached up and took off his sunglasses to look Sanji in the eye properly.

Sanji’s eyes widened as he stared at his brother’s eyes in disbelief. Rather than both eyes being blue like they were supposed to be, the right eye was discolored. It was almost a milky white; displaying his brother’s partial blindness. He had noticed Ichiji’s slow reaction time on his right side earlier but hadn’t paid much attention to it. The very concept was staggering.

It was this one piece of evidence that completely convinced Sanji that this was not his Ichiji.

Any disability was a weakness in Judge’s eyes. He would never have allowed his firstborn son to be blind. If this were Sanji’s Ichiji, that eye would have been ripped out and replaced with a scientifically superior one instead. So, this was indeed not the Ichiji that had tormented Sanji as a child.

“Well, if you won’t talk to me…” Ichiji urged while starting to stand again. He didn’t like Sanji’s reaction and felt it best that he left rather than upset his little brother more. “…At least go talk to Reiju so that one of us can help you with whatever you’re dealing with. And if that freckled bastard is heckling you, just let us know and we’ll take care of him for you.”

The words were so simple yet so surreal. Sanji’s very world was turning on its head and he felt like he was insane. He slowly let his gaze follow his brother, watching him leave again.

“T-thank you for your concern, Ichiji.” Those were words that he truly believed would never leave his lips in a thousand years.

_**~*~End~*~** _


End file.
